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November 17, 2008

Three area divers eye medals

St. Peter’s Lager takes section crown to state

By Jim Rueda

St. Peter sophomore Alissa Lager is no stranger to the Class A State Girls Swimming and Diving Meet.

She qualified a year ago and placed seventh overall with 289.9 points. This year, she returns as the champion from Section 1A and is looking for improvement.

“I’ve added some new dives this year that I’m hoping will help me at state,” Lager said. “I have a reverse-1-and-a-half, a back-1-and-a-half and a back-1-and-a-half with a twist. I’m not as strong with them as I am with my other dive, but they’re all right.”

Lager, who recorded a season-high 355.6 points at the Prior Lake Invitational earlier this year, was hoping to reach that same mark on sections last weekend. She came up short, recording a winning score of 327.35. Her effort was good enough to earn her Section 1A Diver of the Meet honors.

“I won’t be AS nervous at state this year, but I’ll still be nervous,” she admitted.

Her coach and mother Mary Lager says a top-four finish is a realistic goal.

There were two seniors in front of her last year and she’s already finished ahead of Courtney Fleming from Austin, who was sixth last year, so there’s definitely the potential for an improved finish.

“We know what we’d like to do but diving is such a unique sport,” coach Lager said. “You can have one bad dive and that throws everything off. You just have to be confident and hope for the best.”

Mankato East/Loyola is sending two divers to state in freshman Kali Schlingmann and senior Ashley Throldahl. Schlingmann finished third at the section meet while Throldahl was fourth. Both are first-time qualifiers.

“I’m sure I’ll be nervous, but that goes with the territory,” Schlingmann said. “You just have to concentrate on what you need to do.”

If Schlingmann’s name sounds familiar, it should. Her older sister, Holly, is a former state diving champion.

“There’s been some pressure in following her but she’s been very good about helping me when she can,” Kali said. “She took me up to MSU a few times and we worked out up there. And she plans to be at state to support me so that will be good, too.”

Throldahl, who has attended the state meet as a spectator, doesn’t expect butterflies to be much of an issue.

“I’ll be a little nervous on some of my bigger dives but otherwise I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ve added a back-and-a-half this year, and I’m pretty satisfied with my degree of difficulty.

Throldahl, who has a background in gymnastics, says her goal is reach the top eight at state and earn a medal.

East/Loyola head coach Tim Johnson is confident both of his divers can crack the top 16 at state. Whether they can reach the top eight or not will be determined by where they stand after Day 1.

“They’re not real flashy but they’re both solid,” Johnson said. “What they do, they do very well. Traditionally, divers from our section do well at state so we’ll see what happens.”

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